I have had the wonderful opportunity of getting to know Laura over the last month, and she’s an energetic and passionate woman. Her enthusiasm for writing has propelled her to publishing several stories, along with focusing her time and expertise as the project manager at FictionistaWorkshop for the new Writing Collective that we are launching next week.

I hope you take the time to check out her new book and help a worthy cause.

Ann

Hello Literary-Folk!

My name is Laura Kreitzer, and I’m the author of the Timeless Series and the Summer Chronicles. This week I would like to alert everyone on a colossal crisis that’s gone unnoticed in the world: human trafficking. That’s why I’ve asked hundreds of blogs to be involved with spreading the word on this issue that’s become close to my heart.

As an author, and someone whose life is put in the spotlight, I keep most people at a distance. Only a handful of my friends know the whole me and the events from my past. But this week I’d like to share with you a part of myself that the outside world doesn’t see (and a part of me I don’t like to share). I was emotionally abused for five years by someone I thought loved me, my mind beaten into submission. Though the turmoil I went through doesn’t penetrate as deep as someone forced into slavery on the worldwide market for human trafficking, I can sadly relate in some ways: imprisoned, my life dictated down to what I wore, ate, where I went, whom I spoke to, where I worked, when I slept, bending to his every whim. He did not sway, even when I cried through some of the more traumatic things he had me do. I was a slave in my own home. In my desperation for freedom, I held out a gun and asked him to just end my suffering. I was desperate.

I can’t even imagine how many women (and men) in the world are in a similar situation. What’s even worse, I had it mild compared to the children that are sold for labor or sex. Surprisingly, the good ol’ U.S.A. is reported to be the host to two million slaves. Did you know this? Because I certainly did not; not until I was preparing to write my newest novel: Phantom Universe. The main character, Summer Waverly, was stolen as a child and sold as a slave to the captain of a modern-day pirate ship. From a loved child who only knew “time-out” as punishment, to being whipped into silence was something I knew nothing about. So I researched deeply into human trafficking and the psychological effects of torture of various types that one would endure in these circumstances. I felt shaken at my findings and knew I had to tell Summer’s story. (Read a sneak peek here.)

A storm began to brew in my mind; transforming, morphing, twisting, and expanding into this massive, black cloud. I had to bring this tragic atrocity to the forefront. My own emotional experiences, mixed with the research I did on human trafficking, made me feel an intense connection with Summer, and to all women who’ve been through this kind of brutality. The cloud ruptured and rained all over my computer one day. It took one month to write Phantom Universe, the first in the Summer Chronicles. I was so consumed by the story that I wrote nearly nonstop, only breaking for necessary tasks like eating, showering, and occasionally—very occasionally—sleeping.

Though the book I’ve written would be classified as Science Fiction, or as I’d like to call it, Dystopian, the emotions and psychological aspects are not Science Fiction—they’re real. Reviewers have said many amazing things about Summer, this character who is so real in my mind and who I cried along with as the words poured from my soul onto my screen.

Through her overwhelmingly horrendous past, Summer goes on more than just a physical journey in Phantom Universe, she goes on a psychological one as well; growing beyond her mute state to persevere and survive in a new world beyond the whip she’s so frightened of.

Now that the release date is here, I’m excited and terrified to share this story with everyone. I’m emotionally tied in every way to the words I’ve written, because they’re more than words. More than just a story on a page. Beyond the fictional aspects, there’s a real issue that needs to be addressed: human trafficking must be stopped. We shouldn’t sit idly by while this continues to plague us. Our world’s children—our nation’s children—are being affected. It’s time we take action!

Earlier this month Phantom Universe hit Barnes and Noble’s top 100 Best Selling list. I’ve decided to donate 10% of my sales from Phantom Universe, until the end of February, to the DNA Foundation.

“DNA hopes to help abolish modern day slavery, deter perpetrators, and free the many innocent and exploited victims. We are committed to forcing sex slavery out of the shadows and into the spotlight.

Freedom is a basic human right and slavery is one of the greatest threats to that freedom. No one has the right to enslave another person.”

I ask that you spread the word to everyone you know. Look around on the DNA Foundation website and find a way to get involved in ending human trafficking. Take action today. Everyone has a voice—you have a voice. Will you have the courage to use it?

I’ve been MIA lately and want to apologize. I’ve been wrapped up in a few projects that have taken my time, which have left me almost no time to update my website. Besides working on my own writing goals, there is an awesome project I want to share with you today. As some of you may know, I’ve been involved with Fictionista Workshop, in one form or another, for almost a year. It is a wonderful website devoted to help women authors succeed in their goals to become better writers. The workshop has been an amazing experience and I would encourage anyone to sign up and participate in any capacity that they can. You can learn more about the workshops HERE. What I want to share with you today is a new program that they are launching called the Writing Collective. Here is a little bit of information on this new and exciting project that you can sign up for.

The Writing Collective

The Collective will include writing groups of three authors paired together based on writing strengths and weakness. Everyone involved in a writing group will gain valuable knowledge, edits, and feedback on their writing with no cost to them. Every week advice, resources, and ideas will be provided by FW. Our objective is to motivate authors so they are productive and reach their writing goals. The Collective offers different avenues for writers depending on where each author is in their writing process.

How it Works
Groups are paired so each person contributes something to the group. Authors will be paired with those who have strengths in the areas they are weakest. After the writing groups are chosen, each group will receive a more solidified schedule for their group. Every week during the Collective, Fictionista Workshop will provide a PDF or link to a new lesson in the Writing Classroom. At the end of the week, each author will anonymously send in their weekly writing for the others in their group to read, edit, analyze, and critique. A schedule will be set for weekly online chat sessions (meetings) where the group members can get together (anonymously) to discuss what they’ve written and read from their fellow group members during the following week.

Where to Sign Up
Fictionista Workshop wants to implement the best, most helpful writing experience possible. With the Writing Collective, FW will provide authors an outlet for when they feel discouraged or have no one else to turn to. To apply for the Writing Collective, please CLICK HERE.

Please be patient as I learn the ins and outs of how to manage my own website. As you can see from the previous post, I had some difficulties setting everything up because I’m technologically challenged. WHat should have taken a few days has taken me almost a month. LOL

There are a few things I’d love for you to check out. The first is my new story, Ready to Love Again. I’ve been working on this story for a couple of years and it’s been a labor of love that I hope you will enjoy.

The second would be my newsletter. I’m hoping *crosses fingers* to put something out quarterly that will consist of: original writing contests, reader/reviewer appreciation, writing information and articles by various authors, original short stories and outtakes for my stories. So, make sure you sign up if those are things that you’d be interested in.

The last item would be the feed for this website. It’s quick and easy to sign up to receive an email when I update the site. Only five chapters of Ready to Love Again are currently posted, and if you want to know when I post the next five chapters then the best way to do that would be to sign up either by email or RSS feed. Unfortunately, Google Chrome has issues with signing up for the RSS feed on this site, but you can still sign up by email if you use Chrome.

The final chapters of RTLA are in the editing phase, so I anticipate updating weekly.

If you have any questions, comments or suggestions, then please drop me an email.

YAY! My site is up and running . . . sort of. The process has been long and grueling for one as technologically challenged as myself. It seems that when I tried to download/upload/whatever WordPress to my hosting company, I inadvertently uploaded it four times. Well, when it’s been uploaded that many times, it does something to make it so you can’t get any of them to work correctly. LOL

After figuring out that I couldn’t fix it myself, I had to call my hosting company and they had to go in and set everything straight. They are going to earn their paycheck when it comes to me. *wink*

Then I had to learn what an RSS feed was, which was like a foreign language to me. I’m still not positive that I have it installed correctly, so we’ll have to wait and see. I think I have it correct since tests are showing that all is well. *crosses fingers*

So, with that being said, I’m getting the site ready and trying out some of the features before I unleash the site on the unsuspecting. mwahahahah. Hopefully we’ll have it up and running by the time NanoWriMo starts so I can focus on something else besides my inept skillz in web design. Ummm, that didn’t happen either. LOL
Adios!